Forum ride: Hebden Bridge - Trawden loop, Sat 12th November 2022, 52 km (33 miles)

[ColinJ]

My recent forum ride from Hebden Bridge went very well so I thought that I would try to squeeze another one in before winter arrives.

The new route is a scenic (lumpy!) loop via Oxenhope to Trawden and then back via Widdop. The length of the route is around 52 km (33 miles) and it is about as hilly as the one we just did - approx 1,250 m (4,100 ft) of ascent, some of it short and steep, some long and gradual.

The proposed date is Sat, 12th November but either or both of two things might cause a postponement...

1. It is an exposed route that I would not like to tackle in foul weather. If the forecast is awful, we will try a week later instead!
2. I am having a tooth out the week before. If it is a simple extraction then I should be fine by the 12th, but I have been warned that it might turn out to be a much more unpleasant procedure, in which case I might still be feeling the effects a week later. (Probably not, but I am getting my excuses in early! )

The clocks will have gone back by then. The sun will be setting at around 16:15 so we will set off an hour earlier this time - at 09:30. Riders finishing at Hebden Bridge won't need the extra hour of daylight, but anybody with a ride home might prefer it to avoid riding in the dark.

Here is a map of the route, to be ridden anti-clockwise.

GPX file with route attached below.

We will have our cafe stop at the finish in Hebden Bridge. Other options are limited and too early in the ride.

If you fancy coming along, sign up below!

GPX viewer

 

[Jameshow]

Starting at HB and anticlockwise?

 

[ColinJ]

Starting at HB and anticlockwise?

Er, yes... as in the description above!

I should have mentioned that you, and/or anybody else wanting to start from Oxenhope station, could expect us to arrive at around 10:15, assuming that we can actually start promptly this time. My pal Carrie has not replied to my invite yet, but that is where I meet her when we do this kind of ride since she lives near Keighley. She does HB-Oxenhope on her way home instead of at the start of the ride.

 

[colly]

I can probably make it @ColinJ 👍
Will know for sure nearer the date.

 

[ColinJ]

Tagging!!

***** ColinJ's forum rider tag list *****
Fellow forum riders, I am planning another ride!

@colly, @Littgull, @neil_merseyside, @Sea of vapours, @Domus, @Julia9054, @Spiderweb, @Slioch, @EasyPeez, @Kestevan, @Venod, @Soltydog, @NorthernDave, @Buck, @si_c, @videoman, @FrothNinja, @GuyBoden, @Vantage

If anybody wants their name to be added to the list, let me know.

(If anybody wants their name to be removed, let me know, but... )

NB Make sure that you have enabled tag alerts in your account preferences - HERE (tick 'mentions you in a message')
************************************


(Yes, I know some are already signed up for this ride, or can't make it, but I copy and paste the list from one ride to the next so I don't want to edit it.)

 

[ColinJ]

My friend Carrie said that she might well join us at Oxenhope. She isn't on the forum but she has been on quite a few of my forum rides so some of you will have met her before.

 

[Vantage]

I'm a possible. Finances could well balls it up for me.

 

[ColinJ]

I'm a possible. Finances could well balls it up for me.

Fingers crossed.

 

[GuyBoden]

Weather permitting, I'll definitely be there for another ride in Calderdale on the 12th Nov.

But, I'll be bringing lots of food for the ride, if the cafe is at the end, that's a better idea.

Please put me on your ride tag list @ColinJ

 

[ColinJ]

Weather permitting, I'll definitely be there for another ride in Calderdale on the 12th Nov.

Great!

But, I'll be bringing lots of food for the ride, if the cafe is at the end, that's a better idea.

@Littgull is coming and he likes food stops so you can munch together. I will probably be behind a bush or wall somewhere scent-marking my territory!

Please put me on your ride tag list @ColinJ

Done.

 

[Vantage]

Please put me on your ride tag list @ColinJ

Me too pweeze!

 

[ColinJ]

Me too pweeze!

Also done now. I go back and edit the last instance of the list and then copy and paste it for the next ride. That way I don't have to remember who wants tagging and who doesn't. (It also saves typing the list out every time.)

 

[ColinJ]

Next year I will organise a ride over the road between Oxenhope and Wainstalls mentioned by @Vantage in the previous ride thread. We can call in at Bob's Tea Rooms towards the end of that ride.

I have already plotted it... Roughly the same distance and lumpiness as last weekend's route and this one. Tearooms after 47 km. But we can talk about that one in the Spring, if we survive the coming winter...

 

[ColinJ]

I am having a tooth out the week before. If it is a simple extraction then I should be fine by the 12th, but I have been warned that it might turn out to be a much more unpleasant procedure, in which case I might still be feeling the effects a week later. (Probably not, but I am getting my excuses in early! )

I just got back from my fun-packed afternoon...

Spoiler: Gross dental details!!

The Monster Manky Molar had spent over half a century building its defences and it wasn't going to go quietly! It put up a good fight and refused to come out in one piece. I had been forewarned that it might have to be cut into pieces, those pieces then to be extracted individually. And so it came to pass...

At least the dentist didn't have to go for the nuclear option of hacking the gum away to get at the roots, and those roots did not appear to jut through into the sinus cavity.

So... As long as I don't pick up an infection in the healing gum, I should be okay for the 12th!

The dental bill was much less than it might have been (< £100 vs > £240) so I might use some of the saving to treat myself to a pair of clip-on mudguards for my Cannondale, in case it turns out a bit wet on the day. (If torrential rain is forecast, I'll probably put the ride back a week.)

 

[colly]

Sympathies @ColinJ . I have just had some root canal work done and it took several sessions over many months to get it sorted completely. Not as bad as I was led to believe and in the end one tooth had to be removed anyway.
I paid the bill on Wednesday when I went in for a scale and polish. Thank God for the NHS. I can not imagine what it would have cost had it been done privately.